The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-12
BILL NYE MEETS MR.. CLEVELAND.
A Strange Encounter With the Presi-
dent in the North Woods.
From the Ne,c Yorl; World.

dent in the North Woods.
From, the Netc Yorl; World.
SARANAC LAKE, June 9-The day closed
quite warm here, and, as the hot dusk set
tied down among the sombre green hills, the
black flies pulled in their singers and went
home, giving place to the murlnur of hot
headed mosquitoes. Driven from my guar
ters by the heat and the torturing remorse
which sometimes comes to man who has
fished not wisely but too well, | strolled
forth for some time beneath the gathering
wings of the great, quiet night, and finally
backed up against a softly signing pine to
scratch my blotched and corrugated back
between the shoulder blades, where no hui
man hand could reach. Hook forward with
horror to the day when our forest trees will
be utterly swept from the face of the earth,
and when with all the agony shed over our
race by the mosquito we will not have for
est tree to our backs.
lad only been few moments braced up
against the solemn pine, when | heard low
sigh, yelling up from the very heart of
some unknown person, who was evidently
scratching his back against my tree.
who are you, sir!" Kissed through my
front teeth, cooking small pocket pistol
and resolved to sell my life dearly.
"Do not shoot, for Gods sake" answered
low, greasy voice with blanched face. 81
am a friend to you. ! am a friend to every
body now. | am the President in disguise.
Do not, oh, do not contribute another mar
tyred President to our already CORY history.
simply came out here to scratch my back
under a nom de plume and in quiet, JEFF
fersonian way to 'agitate my bites under an
assumed name. did not know that this
was your tree, as heaven is my judge"
1T is all well enough for you here, where
no one knows you to claim that you are the
Of fha Init tafa I
dered, 'but how are you going to prove it?
Identify yourself and show that you are or
ever have been one side Of a President and
] will spare you. But if you are deceiving
me | viii injure you severely"
well, SIR, have been driven to decep-
ton by the newspapers. The New York
papers seem to think that public officer is
public cuss, and that ! ought not to do
anything that it would be wrong for
the people to know about, so |
am up here on the quiet, where
| can unbend and go fishing and
spit on my bait and be boy again. Here
ghoulish glee can never come. Here | do
not have to think. You cannot imagine
how disagreeable it is to have to think and
to be responsible for what you do and be
criticised if you do not do it right. Ny
early life ran quiet as the clear brook by
which babbled, and to be tossed about on
the tempestuous tide of politics at Washing
ton, and to be held accountable every time
| appoint man to office, if he turns out to
be retired convict, I tell you, is tough"
ooh, yes, all that sounds WELL" l said,
reaching for him nervously, but how can
YOU prove that you are the man we are
talking about2 Can you show that you
have ever done anything by which to iden-
tifv Yourself with the Presidencyg
'Why, of course | can. | got married,
didn't IF'
Eyes, several of us have done that, and
we were most of us proud of it at the time.
If you are the man who eloped a year ago
and acted ashamed of yourself at the time
and want to point to it now with pride as
the only distinguishing feature of your
Presidential career, | will admit that you
are Grover Cleveland, for nobody else would
do that way"
He then further identified himself by pro-
ducng rabbits foot sent to him by a South
ern admirer. 1t had his name on it, also
marlkes of desiccated fish bait and yellow
! threads of fine-cut chewing tobacco.
So we became friendly and chatted on
gayly about the prospects for '8S, and as to
whether fish ought to be cut open on the
back or on the stomach in order TO remove
his viscera, and whether the press really
| nodded public opinion or whether our
modest opinion did not really have its
origin in the White House, and what, was
kOOu IOI pIIChil ltStI, anu btlc DIcQ ENpDUU
decision and what to do for membraneous
Group and the Wilmot Proviso. and whether
it was a bad sign to drop dishcloth, and
as to who struck Billy Patterson, and other
live issues of the day.
Before we parted, at his request | ex-
tracted a wood-tick from the back of the
Presidents neck, and it was given to me by
Mr.. Cleveland as a keepsake. He said
might have 1t with pleasure. He also said
that he wished it was in his power to give
each of his friends wood-tick or some other
little souvenir that did not cost anything,
and that whenever they looked at it it would
remind them of him.
Just then Daniel Lamont called through
| the summer twilight to Mr.. Cleveland that
it was o'clock and time that he was in bed;
and SO we parted, and as l came away with
my little Adirondack wood tick clutched
| tightly in my tremulous fingers, could not
| help thinking that had never met Presi-
dent who presented a more intellectual or a
more commanding appearance in the dark
than Mr.. Cleveland, and l regret to read
! day after day the harsh and vituperative
comments of various journals throughout
the country, who make speciality of in
dulging day after day in what Mr.. Cleve-
| land very justly and very orthographically
| refers to as ghoulish glee. BILL NYE.
A IL No+O